The Watch
by dyo
Summary: In the eyes of the old, everything is not unseen.


The very first fic I made on the very first morning of January ^_^  
  
This one's quite short and I was in my sappy self again sooo... beware? hehe ^_^;;  
  
Hope you'll like it.  
  
********  
  
The Watch  
  
RK Fic  
  
by Dyosa :)  
  
Disclaimers apply. RK characters not mine. Belongs to their respective owners: Nobuhiro Watsuke,   
  
Shonen Jump, Sony, bla, bla…  
  
For entertainment purposes only.   
  
Don't sue.  
  
Tinkyu.  
  
Timeline/Spoilers/Notes: As long as Kenji, Kenshin and Kaoru's son, is   
  
about two to three years of age. Dunno the exact time when in the Meiji   
  
Period. And the Himura family had a little visit to the Aoiya, for a couple   
  
of reasons (maybe a visit to Kenshin's shishou or Tomoe's grave, or both.   
  
pick whichever you like). They left Kenji in Misao's care. Just wanna say   
  
this in advance in case you get all "EEEEH????" ~_~   
  
btw, guess who's talking…. ^_^   
  
********  
  
It was always something that I can never miss.   
  
Her laughter always resonates throughout the walls of the Aoiya, something every resident in this  
  
house can never ignore because it always brings a smile to their faces. Yes, every face. She's like a bright  
  
flower blooming endlessly from her smile, to her bright, bright eyes. The balm to our emotions.   
  
Even now, as I relinquish myself with a cup of hot steaming tea, it brings no warmth in a cool early  
  
winter breeze compared to the soft smiling face I have been lured upon that morning. No, nothing  
  
compares to the bright flower.  
  
As I sat there, across the room, observing quietly the playful expressions painted on her angelic  
  
face, her whispered teasings to a child of red hair and violet eyes, it warms my softened heart as I remember  
  
the memories of the child with the same innocence in her bright blue eyes. How it still amazes me of her  
  
power to soften me inside then, to learn to love again. How she can easily capture me helpless in her tiny  
  
hands with just a soft hug, nothing more. It amazes me on how her innocence, something that I have lost  
  
early in my youth due to troubled times, can be power enough to tame any beast inside a hardened man.   
  
Especially her eyes. Yes, her clear blue eyes. Even until now, it still has its same effect. So  
  
expressive, where her emotions are so easily decipherable. Where every drop of delight can be fathomed,  
  
every brim of sadness can be grasped, every love… every forgiveness. To anyone who she knows deserves  
  
it.   
  
So giving. And yet, it seems she never runs out of forgiveness and love. Especially love. But  
  
patience can never be her virtue. A knack she can never take hold of, but a source of amusement to all of  
  
us.  
  
Her laughter echoes past again. Her smile illuminating along with child's in front of her. But in her  
  
eyes, behind all the happiness she held for the world, lies a niggling longing in her heart. I believe it is a  
  
woman's presentiment. She feels that her being is half filled, yearning for the other half in order to be  
  
complete. Whole. In spite of everything, she is not a perfect happy woman. I know her. She is my Misao,  
  
after all.  
  
  
  
And he watches with me. His hooded gaze is as strong as skin touching skin. And yet, he hides it  
  
perfectly. He sits there, in front of me, quiet as a perfect cold statue. A man of few words and masked  
  
feelings. An incomprehensible man, indeed. Even as a child, his ice blue gaze can be unfathomable. His  
  
heart has grown cold and his mind has grown old too fast. He has lost his youth too early, too late. But he  
  
dedicated himself into being a fighter. He kept his emotions aside in order to hurt and not be hurt. He  
  
became the best, and everyone obeyed him loyally. A perfect leader.   
  
But his strength had lead him to deceiving paths. And he became the perfect monster that thirsted  
  
for the best place in the world. The strongest being he can ever claim to be. Which brought him to his  
  
downfall at the end.  
  
As I look back, I was the one who taught him to be strong. I reached him in his mind, instead of in  
  
his heart. But truly, I didn't know this other art. I have yet to discover it. And I have learned my mistake with  
  
painful consequences. And he has suffered it, as well. But in passing time, he has not forgiven himself, yet.  
  
Even from forgiving himself of his mistakes, he can be patient along with everything else.  
  
Methodically, as graceful as his trained hands can accomplish, he reached for the cup as he  
  
tears his gaze away from the two youngsters across the room, their cheerful laughter penetrating the  
  
depreciating solemnity of the atmosphere. As I watch with trained eyes, he sips his own tea, as if trying to be  
  
indifferent with his surroundings.   
  
But I know him. He is Aoshi, after all. Like a son that I never had. Though others who do not know  
  
him well from the start, one cannot perceive as the way he clutches his cup with unnecessary tightness, the  
  
way his ice blue orbs would seize their moment in stealing gazes towards her direction, and the constant  
  
flex of his jaws all because of the soothing chatter of the young woman to the young child across the room.   
  
The only balm to his emotions.  
  
And however insistent my dear Misao claims to know his Aoshi-sama so well unlike any other, she  
  
herself cannot fathom the sight that I have so witnessed as a small smile crept up his face while looking at  
  
her, a fleeting fall of his mask, with his eyes of gentle sea.   
  
He is definitely a man of few words, but he can be very voluble when it comes with his heart in his  
  
eyes.  
  
True, I am already old. But as we grow older in years, our hearts get sharper as our minds get  
  
dull. And as for my youngsters, I always keep watch on them, and sometimes a little push would suffice. It's  
  
the least I can do, as my bones get brittle by the years. But in time, the lost student will find his right teacher.  
  
Soon, undoubtedly.  
  
After all, these are always some things that I can never miss.  
  
OWARI  
  
********  
  
So… have you guessed already? No? Well then, I'll tell you… it's ………  
  
……  
  
……  
  
Okina!  
  
~_~ arigato for reading, ja! 


End file.
